iMac G4 Linux

[maximit]

Does anyone know of a linux distro that will work right out of the box with the G4 iMac 1ghz? I tried a bunch and non work with the GeForce4 MX video. The only one I got working is Yellow Dog and their distro is less then optimal and I could not get AirPort Extreme wifi to work. Ive tried Mint, Ubuntu, Lubuntu. Any suggestions?

 

[topbanana_]

Does anyone know of a linux distro that will work right out of the box with the G4 iMac 1ghz? I tried a bunch and non work with the GeForce4 MX video. The only one I got working is Yellow Dog and their distro is less then optimal and I could not get AirPort Extreme wifi to work. Ive tried Mint, Ubuntu, Lubuntu. Any suggestions?

Lubuntu and Ubuntu Mate work more or less out the box for me (nVidia 6600 here) - the only thing I had to do was exactly whats in these instructions right after installing from the live DVD - https://ubuntu-mate.community/t/sol...tall-flashing-questionmark-g5-powermac/5782/5
PLEASE NOTE : I am not dual booting into OSX!! (So cannot be responsible if you wipe your hard drive in the process....)
For a G4 iMac I would tentatively suggest Lubuntu its lighter weight my RAM useage was about 4-500Mb. I've been flitting between the two and now back to MATE as it's prettier. Others here may have other suggestions Best of luck.

 

[pochopsp]

Does anyone know of a linux distro that will work right out of the box with the G4 iMac 1ghz? I tried a bunch and non work with the GeForce4 MX video. The only one I got working is Yellow Dog and their distro is less then optimal and I could not get AirPort Extreme wifi to work. Ive tried Mint, Ubuntu, Lubuntu. Any suggestions?

I have a powermac MDD g4 1.25 ghz single core with an Ati Radeon 9000pro. I have managed to install through usb lubuntu 12 and ubuntu 10. It was slow and I couldn't get the graphic acceleration to work. there are a few videos on youtube in which someone managed to get the gpu working properly on their powerbooks and ibooks. check them. In my opinion only the very old versions (maybe ubuntu 6) could work with our ancient GPUs... If you want linux working well on PowerPC macs you should buy a G5

 

[TzunamiOSX]

iMac G4 1,25

I have installed Ubuntu Mate and it works ok after two little thinks (fixing muted audio and install wlan driver)

But with a NVIDIA card I don't get OpenGL 2.0 to work. Nouveau brings 2D acceleration and a rudimentary 3D acceleration but not enough for playing Quake3 for example.

 

[0248294]

If you're gonna play old games on it, you might as well stick with either Tiger or Leopard. Quake III Arena was a Mac OS X title back in the day, and should run way better than on any Linux distro for PowerPC, period.

 

[dustinschings]

OP, short answer is no. And honestly, most people will agree I think, that after playing with Linux on your PowerPC for a short while, you will be reverting back to OS X Tiger/Leopard anyways. Its just better, for obvious reasons.

 

[MacMaverick855]

Does anyone know of a linux distro that will work right out of the box with the G4 iMac 1ghz? I tried a bunch and non work with the GeForce4 MX video. The only one I got working is Yellow Dog and their distro is less then optimal and I could not get AirPort Extreme wifi to work. Ive tried Mint, Ubuntu, Lubuntu. Any suggestions?

I am running a version of Lubuntu 16.04 on a Mac G4, 867MHz, 1 GB RAM with an Nvidia GeForce4 MX card. I have come across some log in commands and hoops to jump through to get it to work. At this time I need to perform the gyrations at every log in, but hope to figure out how to make it happen around-magically on start up. So, although no distro (other than Edgy and YDL) has ever booted to a usable screen with out entering commands at start up. I’m not at my G4 right now but will repost the steps I use to get it to work. I don’t know if it will work for all distros as there are very few I have been able to load on the G4. The Lubuntu 16.04 Remix .ISO can be found by searching for a user named “wicknix”. He’s the one that developed the only distro I have been able to run on this G4.

hope this helps
MacMav